All Aboard — Marketing Campaign for the TriMet OMSI Shuttle
A full marketing campaign for a seasonal TriMet bus line connecting the Rose Quarter to OMSI — specialty logo, bus kings, train ads, newspaper placements, and a rider brochure, all created as a contractor for TriMet's creative department.
A seasonal shuttle, a custom identity, and marketing that showed up everywhere.
In the summer of 2008, TriMet launched a temporary bus line running from the Rose Quarter to OMSI and back — a seasonal service designed to make the museum more accessible to riders across the city. As a contractor in TriMet's creative department, I was brought in to build the full marketing campaign from the ground up. That meant a specialty logo created in collaboration with OMSI's creative team, signage for the sides of buses, advertising inside MAX trains and on other bus lines, newspaper placements in the Willamette Week, and a rider brochure. Everything had to work together as a cohesive campaign while living across wildly different formats and contexts.
The Problem
A new route with no identity — and a full campaign needed before launch.
The OMSI Shuttle was a brand new service with no visual identity, no signage, and no marketing materials. Everything needed to be created from scratch and ready to deploy across buses, trains, newspapers, and in riders' hands before the line launched in July 2008.
A logo, a campaign, and a brochure — all before the first bus rolled.
The specialty logo became the anchor for everything else — developed collaboratively with OMSI's creative team, it gave the shuttle its own identity while staying connected to both the TriMet and OMSI brands. From there, the campaign extended outward across every touchpoint a rider might encounter before and during the summer season.
Specialty Logo & Bus Signage
Adobe Illustrator Adobe PhotoshopThe OMSI Shuttle logo was designed to feel energetic and seasonal — something that would stand out on the side of a bus and read clearly at speed. OMSI's creative team loved it, and it anchored the visual system for the rest of the campaign.
Stylized Logo & Photography
Logo Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop PhotographyThe OMSI building complex was stylized into a bold graphic illustration — the architectural outlines of the museum rendered in a striking blue palette that gave the campaign a sense of place and destination.
Newspaper Ad & Rider Brochure
Adobe InDesign Adobe IllustratorA Willamette Week newspaper ad extended the campaign into print, while a rider brochure gave passengers something to hold onto — route information, schedule details, and the campaign visual language in a format designed for use on the go.
Contractor work for a real agency — and a campaign that actually ran.
Working as a contractor inside TriMet's creative department was a formative experience. The scale of the work — real buses, real train cars, real newspaper placements — made every decision feel consequential in a way that smaller projects don't always. Collaborating with OMSI's creative team on the logo was genuinely fun; they were enthusiastic partners and their excitement about the final mark was infectious. Seeing the campaign out in the world that summer, on the sides of buses and inside MAX trains, was one of those early career moments that confirmed this was the right path. The shuttle line was a success, which made it all feel even more worthwhile.